4
THE RE-AFFORESTATION OF HAINHAULT.
of the Forest was enclosed, or imparked by Royal licence, by the
owners of manors within the Forest, and the old customary
rights of the Forest inhabitants of pasture and fuel became
more and more strictly defined and limited by the Manorial
Courts and the Forest Laws; though, as we have said, they
were in their origin undoubtedly the survival of a state of
society which was earlier than the Manor or Forest Law. The
rights of the Commoners of Loughton within the Waltham
portion of the Forest will serve as an example of those which
existed generally, though with some variations, throughout the
whole Forest. These rights, as found by the Arbitrator under
the Epping Forest Act, were "That occupiers of houses in the
manor and parish of Loughton had the right to lop, under the
name of 'Lopwood' for the proper use and consumption of
their houses as fuel from 12 midnight on November 11th (All
Saints Day) till 12 midnight April 23rd (St. George's Day) in
each succeeding year, the boughs or branches of the trees
growing upon the waste lands of the Forest within the precincts
of the manor in such manner as not to destroy or unnecessarily
injure such trees, and at such a height as not to destroy the covert
or browsing of the deer." The lopping was done with an axe with
a handle about three feet long, and the spray or side shoots of
the lopped boughs had to be left on the ground as food for the
deer. By the Forest Laws the" King's Vert," which might not
be cut, included all such trees and underwood as provided food
or cover for the deer, such as Pear, Crab, Thorn, and Holly;
and these were accordingly not lopped. It was the custom also
to leave a certain number of young Spear Oaks to grow into timber
trees, and in the King's woods in Hainhault these were marked
by the Forester with a "broad-arrow." The object of lopping at
a height of about 8 feet was no doubt that the deer and cattle
might not bite off the young shoots which sprang again from the
lopped trees. The pasture rights included all commonable cattle;
goats and geese were strictly excluded as damaging the grazing of
the deer, and sheep, which were, it seems, originally commonable,
were finally held by the Forest Court to be not commonable
in 1630. By the Forest Law, cattle were excluded from the
Forest during the Fence-month, i.e., fifteen days before and
after old Midsummer Day, when the deer dropped their fawns,
and staff herding was forbidden on the ground that it disturbed